Victory At Sea - High West Barrel-Aged | Ballast Point Brewing Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
We partnered with our friends at High West® Distillery to create a barrel-aged version of Ballast Point Victory at Sea, our award-winning Imperial Porter with cold-steeped coffee and vanilla. From a blend of Ballast Point Victory at Sea aged in High West’s own bourbon & rye whiskey oak casks, new layers of complexity emerge with notes of soft caramel and smoky oak over a dark chocolate and roasted almond body. High West crafts delicious and distinctive whiskeys to honor the American West, making it the perfect pairing with our signature San Diego-born porter.

2018 brew:
L - Deep, opaque, pitch black with a large light tan head that sticks around for some time but leaves behind tons of creamy lacing. A really good looking beer - though the head is a little light in color
S - Rich caramel, dark chocolate, bitter coffee dominate along with notes of oak and bourbon
T - Caramel and dark chocolate up front followed by bourbon, rye, and oak finishing off with bitter coffee and hints of vanilla.
F - Medium to full bodied with a light to moderate amount of carbonation - smooth, rich, creamy
O - The bourbon barrel aging adds a nice overall complexity to the standard victory at sea, particularly adding the notes of caramel, bourbon, rye, and oak. Personally, I like standard version better, but this one isn't far behind - overall a fantastic bourbon barrel aged porter.

Pours a deep dark brown color with over a finger of head. The nose has competing notes of sweet bourbon and burnt coffee. The flavor, however, gives very little indication that this offering is barrel-aged. The roasted flavor is potent. The body is a touch thin.

Drank from a 12 fl.oz./355ml bottle purchased at Cambridge Wine & Spirits, Cambridge, MA
PKG 25SEP18
Served in a snifter

An inch-tall, frothy, light tan crown topped the thinner looking, dark brown body. The head slowly fell to a thick, bubbly cap. Streaks and drops of drippy lacing trickled all along the glass.

The aroma was outstanding. Rich milk chocolate notes dominated. Loads of fragrant vanilla bean too. This smelled a lot like a freshly baked, rich and fudgey chocolate cake. Vanilla spiked hot cocoa also came to mind. Fairly sweet but not excessively so. A subtle boozy note was apparent as well.

The flavor profile was drastically different from the nose. Big roasted malt presence up front. The booziness kicked in next. Really hot and whiskey-like. I definitely would not pick out either the rye or the bourbon specifically however. Charred espresso appeared in the center. More bitter roast, char and alcohol on the back end and in the finish. The acrid bitterness lingered long after the swallow.

Like the flavor, the mouthfeel was quite thin. Almost a touch watery. The liquid contained a larger bubbled, prickly effervescence that seemed a bit overwhelming initially but settled with time.

I cannot recall the last time I had a beer where the aroma was so drastically superior to the flavor. That said, while the vanilla notes bordered on excessive, the coffee in this was completely undetectable. These wide-release, barrel-aged beers typically have some impressive attributes but fall short in other areas. In this case, the flavor profile and the mouthfeel left much to be desired.

a beautiful looking beer, pours out a dark brown color with a khaki-tan head

on nose is hot chocolate powder, vanilla, hint of caramel, some spirit but overall not boozy on the nose. there is also a very mild roast in the background, coffee has fallen off perhaps but still lends a really pleasant slightly bitter roastyness dancing around. very enticing smell!

chocolate, caramel, hint of vanilla, oak, and bourbon all very strong on the palate. again a very mild earthy roast in the background. blending together really nicely actually, and the spirit flavor is excellent. i assume a bourbon drinker would enjoy this. the obvious drawback is the body, it drinks somewhat smooth, but definitely lacking in texture - medium minus body. overall it works, and the bourbon flavors are excellent, could be a great BA stout if it had the thick velvety texture to accentuate the flavor profile. still very enjoyable!